The Life of the Golfer Bobby Jones

Robert Jones, Jr. was without a doubt as talented a young golfer as ever played the game but it was not until he was able to harness his need to hit every shot to perfection that he became a great winner. Once he managed to convince himself that he could never hit every shot to his own satisfaction he leapt to the pinnacle of golf in the 1920s, culminating with his winning the sport's Grand Slam in 1930 before abruptly walking away from the game.

Bobby Jones was born on St. Patrick's Day of 1902 to rich parents in Atlanta, Georgia. In an odd way, his poor health as a child contributed to his golfing greatness, as his parents sought an environment with fresh air to afford Bobby a better chance to thrive. They moved from Atlanta out to the country near the East Lake Country Club in 1908. It was there that Jones watched and emulated the club pro, Stewart Malden. At the age of 11 Jones was shooting 80 on the course and by 12, he was club champion, banging out scores below par.

In 1916, Jones entered the United States Amateur, which at the time was considered to be a major championship. Despite his young age, the 14 year old won two matches before falling in the match-play format. However, he could not control his temper on the links when his play was less than stellar, even walking off the course in the midst of the 1921 British Open while in the process of having a terrible round.

In the 1923 United States Open Jones finally broke through with a hard-earned victory. He nearly blew a big lead by going four over in the final three holes of regulation and fell back into a tie and 18 hole playoff the next day. On the final hole of this playoff, he chose to go for the green rather than lay up and hit a miracle two iron within a few feet of the hole to secure the first of his major titles.

The U.S. Amateur, the British Open, the U.S. Open and the British Amateur were major titles in those days. Jones collected them like his contemporary, Babe Ruth, collected home run titles. He won the U.S. Open four times, the U.S. Amateur five times, the British Open three times and the British Amateur once. He accomplished all of this before the age of 30 and while playing golf only three months out of the year as he studied at both Georgia Tech and Harvard, where he collected degrees in engineering and law respectively.

The year 1930 would define Jones as possibly the greatest golfer of any era and certainly as the greatest amateur player of all time. He would win all four majors, taking the British Amateur and Open before sailing back over the Atlantic to come home, where he captured the U.S. Open and finally the U.S. Amateur, the latter in Philadelphia. So beloved was Jones by then that it took a number of U.S. Marines to keep the throngs from crushing him in adoration as he left the course following the last victory. Little did they know that it would be his last.

Bobby Jones became a lawyer after winning the Grand Slam. Perhaps only Jim Brown walking away from football at the height of his greatness is an equivalent act in all of sports. He would be instrumental in founding both Augusta National and the Masters Tournament in the next few years following his retirement and he even played in the Masters, but his focus was no longer on his own game and he would never win it. Tragically, Jones was forced into a wheelchair in 1948 by an insidious spinal cord ailment called syringomelia that slowly paralyzed him. He died in 1971 when he was 69 years old, a symbol of all that was good in amateur sports and the face of the game of golf before money took control of it.